Sewing-machine brake



E. L. HOWARD. Sewing-Machine Brake.

No. 223,228. Patented Ja n. 6,1880.

the said lever-brake toward and away from in g-pulley is tightened, andthe brake is forced UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELIJAH L. HOWARD, OF HINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

SEWING-MACHINE BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 223,228, dated January6, 1880.

Application filed July 3, 1879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ELIJAH L. HOWARD, of thetown of Hingham, county of Plymouth, and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented certain Improvements in Brake Mechanism for Sewing-Machines, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to brake mechanism for starting and stoppingsewing-machines and other light machinery; and it consists in theemployment of a swinging frame or carriage suspended by a hanger fromthe under side of the table or bench upon which the machinery to bedriven is placed, the free end of the carriage bearing a shaft uponwhich two pulleys are mounted, one of which receives the belt from thedriving-pulley below and serves to drive the other, which, inturn,drives the sewing-machine or other machinery placed upon the tableabove, while operating with the firstnamed pulley is a brake or drag,which consists of a lever pivoted to one side of the car riage andoperating at one end with the perimeter of the said pulley to bearagainstand arrest motion of the latter or move away from and permit itto rotate, the motions of the pulley being governed by a shipperbar,which, in turn, is pivoted to the extreme front of the carriage, and byits nose wipes against the outer end of brake-lever and crowds thelatter against the pulley, the nose of the shipper-bar further bearingagainst and supporting the weight of the free end of the carriage atsuch times as the brake is free from contact with the pulley, thearrangement of parts, as hereinafter more particularly explained, beingsuch that as the inner end of the shipper-bar is depressed by a treadlethe free end of the carriage is raised slightly, the belt of thedrivaway from the adjacent pulley, and the latter permitted to revolve,the foot of the operator being retained upon the treadle so long as itis desired to drive the machine which he tends, the weight of thesuspended carriage upon the base of the shipper serving to crowd thefront end of the brake-lever against the shipper,

and thereby force the rear end of such lever against the driving-pulley.

The drawings accompanying this specificat tionrepresent in Figure l aside elevation oi a table intended to support two or more sewing-machines, and containing my brake orstop mechanism. Fig. 2 in saiddrawings represents a plan of the brake or stop mechanism. Fig. 3 is arepresentation of the furcated end In said drawings, A represents atable or bench adapted to support one or more sewingmachines or otherlight machinery, the motions of which it is desirable to frequently.

start and stop, while depending from the under side of such table is ahanger, B, to the lower part of which the front end of a swinging frameor carriage, O, is pivoted, such carriage being composed of side bars, 0b, and end limbs, e d, the rear and, free end or hub, d, of suchcarriage bearing a horizontal shaft, 1), while upon each end of suchshaftis affixed a pulley, E or F, the first being the driving-pulley,and receiving, by means of a belt, a, motion from a main pulley, G,carried by ashaft, H, located at the lower part of the table, as shownin Fig. 1 of the drawings.

A belt from the pulley F passes about the pulley of the sewing-machine,and, for illustration, the latter pulley may be shown at [in thedrawings.

The brake 0r stop-lever, to which allusion has before been made, isshown at J in the drawings as pivoted to a boss, 0, cast upon the insideof one of the side bars of the carriage (J, as shown at a, the rear endof such lever, which may be provided with a shoe, of leather or othersemi-adhesive material, being disposed opposite and operatinginconnection with the perimeter or tire of the driving-pulley E, to engageor disengage the latter, as the case may be.

The rear end of the brake-lever J slopes away from the bar of thecarriage, to which it is pivoted, to permit the reception between thetwo of the nose 0 of the shipper lever or bar, before mentioned, suchshipper bar being shown at K as pivoted near its rear end to the extremelower end of the hanger B, while the front end, I), of such shipper-barextends forward to the front of the table A, and is connected by a wire,f, to a pedal or treadle, L, pivoted to the floor of the apartment belowthe table, as shown in the drawings.

The rear end or nose of the shipper-lever is forked or furcated, asshown at e e in the drawings, the spur c Wiping against the brakelever,as before explained, while the lowermost spur, bears against the underside of the boss 0, before mentioned as east upon one side of the barsof the carriage G. Then the said carriage is free from the control ofthe shipper-lever its weight is exerted to crowd the spur c and bar Kagainst the front end of the whole lever J, and thereby crowd the rearend of such lever forcibly against the band of the driving-pulley E, andthereby arrest rotation of the latter and of the machine upon the table.r

When it is desired to put the sewing or other machine in motion theattendant places his foot upon the pedal L and lowers it and the outerend of the shipper-bar K, and thereby, by means of the spur c of saidshipper-bar against the boss 0, lifts the rear end of the carriage O andpulley E, the spureof the shipper-bar K in the act being forced away bycontact with the front end of the brake-lever J, and permitting the rearend of the, latter to fall away from the band of the pulley E, thusleaving the latter free to be driven by the main pulley below.

As the carriage O is raised, as last stated, the belt a is tightened,the tension of this band and the friction of the brake-leveragaiust thepulley E being determined by the extent to which the operator depressesthe pedal and the outer end of the shipper-lever. For this reason theoperator is enabled to change, by means of the pedal, the speed ofrotation of the pulley E and of the machine upon the table.

My device is very strong and durable, simple, and inexpensive, andconstitutes both a stop-motion to control the driving-pulley andafrictional brake to determine the speed of such pulley.

Having thus described the nature, purposes, and advantages of my device,I claim as my invention the following:

1. The combination, with the table or bench and machine to be driven, ofthe carriage pivoted to a hanger of such table, and carrying the twopulleys, the brake or stop lever pivoted to the carriage, and operatingat one end with the ban d of the driving-pulley and at the other withthe shipper-bar, the shipper-bar as pivoted to the hanger of the table,and operatin g at its rear end with the front end of the brake-lever,and at its front end connected by a wire with a pedal pivoted to thefloor of the apartment below the table, the said shipperbar being forkedand wiping against both the brake-lever and carriage, and serving tosupport the weight of such carriage when the brake is free from contactwith the pulley, the whole being arranged and operating substan tiallyas described.

2. The combination, with the table and machine to be driven, of theswinging frame or carriage carryiu g at its free end the two pulleys,and raised by the shipper-bar and falling by its own weight,substantially as hereinbefore stated.

3. The combination, with the table and machine to be driven, of theswinging frame or carriage, carrying the two pulleys and thebrake-lever, and exerting its own weight to crowd the lever against thedrivingpulley,

substantially as stated.

' 4. The shipper-bar, in combination with the carriage and itsdriving-pulley and the brake lever, and adapted both to raise the freeend the carriage and the driving-pulley and tighten the belt and free orlessen the hold of the brake-lever upon the said pulley, substantiallyas and for the purposes stated.

5. The combination, with the swinging earriage and its driving-pulleyand the hanger, of the brake-lever and shipper-bar, the lever operatingto exert a frictional drag or deadstop upon the pulley, and theshipper-bar operating to raise the carriage, tighten the driving-belt,and release or lessen the hold of the brake upon the pulley,substantially as hereinbefore described.

- ELIJAH L. HOWARD.

Witnesses:

A. W. JOHNSTON, H. E. LODGE.

